Good design is thorough down to the last detail - Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
Dieter RamsRead
Things which are different in order simply to be different are seldom better, but that which is made to be better is almost always different.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Innovations should aim for improvement rather than mere distinction; genuine progress often leads to uniqueness.
In this quote, Dieter Rams emphasizes that true innovation is not about being different for the sake of it, but rather about making something better. When improvements are made with intention and purpose, the outcomes often result in uniqueness, setting them apart from the norm in a meaningful way.
Themes
InnovationDesignImprovementDifferenceUniqueness
In practice
Example use cases
In a design conference, a speaker could use this quote to highlight the importance of purposeful innovation.
More from Dieter Rams
All quotes βMy goal is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential is shown to best possible advantage.
Dieter RamsRead
You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people; design is made for people.
Dieter RamsRead
Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
Dieter RamsRead
Design should not dominate things, should not dominate people. It should help people. That's its role.
Dieter RamsRead
My heart belongs to the details. I actually always found them to be more important than the big picture. Nothing works without details. They are everything, the baseline of quality.
Dieter RamsRead
Similar quotes
Great design will not sell an inferior product, but it will enable a great product to achieve its maximum potential.
Thomas Watson, Jr.Read
I am passionate about what design can do - how far it can support the new ideas and the new ways of living of this 21st Century. Good design accelerates this exciting future where manufacturing is local, materials and processes are cradle to cradle, business models are both socially and financially driven.
Yves BeharRead
Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it's decoration.
Jeffrey ZeldmanRead
Throughout this book, we've been evangelizing simplicity, but ironically, the practice of simplicity is not simple. It is easy to build a bulky design by adding layer upon layer of navigation and features; it's much more difficult to create simple, graceful designs. Paring designs to essential elements while maintaining elegance and functionality requires courage and discipline.
Jakob NielsenRead
We won't do something different for different's sake. Designers cave in to marketing, to the corporate agenda, which is sort of, 'Oh, it looks like the last one; can't we make it look different?' Well no, there's no reason to.
Jonathan IveRead
Designers stand between revolutions and everyday life. Theyβre able to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and society and convert those changes into objects and ideas that people can understand.
Paola AntonelliRead